Friday, November 7, 2014

This midterm election has not
only spent a whopping $4 billion, the highest yet; it also witnessed the lowest
voter turnout. Given these two facts, I would deduce voters are fed up with the
blatant corruption endemic to U.S. electoral politics.

It’s clear to me that in
practice, Democrats and Republicans comprise one capitalist party with a Left
and Right wing. Republicrats, as
Mumia dubbed them.I simply call them
fascists, meaning they are in bed with big business and the military with no
regard for the lives of the U.S. majority, everyday working people, employed
and unemployed.

Please note that almost none
of the candidates advocated for the victims of this unrighteous, undemocratic
order, the low-waged, unemployed, homeless, or imprisoned human beings who have
no human rights under this system.

The politicians are not
concerned with people who have no big bucks to contribute to their campaign
coffers; they are beholden to the superPACs, so-called “dark money” (secret
donations), and billionaires like the Koch Brothers who pour hundreds of
millions into the campaigns.

Mainstream media moguls are
laughing all the way to the bank. What a bonanza!

Kentucky Rep. Sen. Mitch McConnell
raised over $73 million to win back his Senate seat, according to a recent FEC
report.That’s a lot of spaghetti!

In fact, that much money
could save the lives of millions of refugees, displaced, and homeless people
here and abroad; build desperately needed housing, provide child care and
education, fight ebola and other diseases; reduce infant morbidity and
mortality; fund support for prisoners released to their communities and those still
incarcerated, as well as prevention of violence against women and suicide among
veterans (22 per day!).

These elections are little
more than big money games played on the American people.They’re not only replete with bribery, fraud,
mendacity, trickery, and racism, they create the illusion of democracy, which,
as Malcolm noted, is nothing but “hypocrisy.”

One of the leading culprits
in buying candidates and elections is AIPAC, the American Israeli Political
Action Committee.Over the years, this
lobby has raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its political
activities. Through the recent recession, AIPAC’s cash flow still reached
almost $200 million. It raises additional hundreds of millions with the help of
some of its wealthiest donors, and through its AIPAC Tomorrow Campaign, asking
members to donate parts of their estates to the organization.

The pro-Israel lobby also has
an affiliate called the American Israel Education Foundation that pays to take
congressmen on lavish trips to Israel, among other things. A one-week trip can
cost up to $28,000
for an elected official and his or her spouse. The American Israel Education
Foundation raises and spends about $25 million a year, according to IRS
filings.

Although AIPAC cannot make
direct campaign contributions under the law, political insiders say there are
about 30 political action committees linked with it. That’s nearly all the
pro-Israel PACs that exist. The organization also encourages its 100,000-member
base to give to pro-Israel causes and campaigns.

Edward Tivnan, author of THE
LOBBY: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign Policy, noted,
"Indeed,...the Jewish lobby had become primarily a pro-Israel lobby, one
so aggressive, omnipresent and influential...that the denizens of Capitol Hill
refer to it simply as 'the lobby,'...Before Israel existed as a state, it
existed as a political lobby first in the capitals of Europe and then in
Washington."

No members of Congress can
keep their seats without the support of AIPAC, and no presidential candidate
will be elected without it.Hence,
there’s no tangible opposition to any of the atrocities and war crimes committed
by Israel (the U.S. military surrogate) in occupied Palestine and elsewhere
–in our name.

Now that we know who Barack
Obama really is – just another bought politician – we should let him be the
last political mercenary we elect.We
should start now (really yesterday!) to build a revolutionary united front, a
movement to transform -- not just reform -- this government into a people’s
government with a brand new platform of human
rights and equal rights for
all.That means we must begin to think
outside the box.

Remember what Jamil Al-Amin
(H. Rap Brown) said, “If voting could change the system, they would make it
illegal.”

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SOUL 2013

Kiilu Nyasha is a revolutionary journalist and former member of the Black Panther Party. Through the end of 2009, Kiilu hosted a weekly TV program, "Freedom Is A Constant Struggle," on SF Live, and many shows are archived here. Beginning in May, 2012, "Freedom..." returned to the airwaves every first and third Thursday for a live 52 minutes on BAVC Commons (SF). It can be streamed here. Archives of shows not on this blog can be found by searching the title at www.archive.org.

Followers

Yuri Kochiyama, Dylcia Pagan, and Kiilu Nyasha

Yuri: "Our ultimate objective in learning about anything is to try to create and develop a more just society."

Harriet Tubman

If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more.

Sojourner Truth

"Truth Is Powerful And It Prevails"

Ida B. Wells

"One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap."

Frederick Douglas

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

WEB Du Bois

"...the two parties have combined against us to nullify our power by a 'gentlemen's agreement' of non-recognition, no matter how we vote...May God write us down as asses if ever again we are found putting our trust in either Republican or the Democratic parties."

Franz Fanon

Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it in relative opacity.

Mao Tse Tung

People of the world unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs!...be courageous, dare to fight; defy difficulties, and advance wave upon wave. Then the whole world will belong to the people.

Ho Chi Minh

"When the prison doors are opened, the real dragons will fly out."

Che Guevara

"Let me say at the risk of seeming ridiculous that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love."

Kwame Nkrumah

"It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else."

Malcolm X

. You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker.

Martin Luther King Jr.

"A right delayed is a right denied."

George Jackson, Freedom Fighter

"Fascism has temporarily succeeded under the guise of reform.:

Hugo Pinell

“I don’t ever regret speaking out and standing up for our people in here. I regret not being able to give more.”